Terms of Business - Household
Regulation. We, Highworth Insurance Ltd, registered address 1 Creechurch Place, London, EC3A 5AF, UNITED KINGDOM, are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to sell general insurance products. Our FCA register number is 578639 and you can check this on the Financial Services Register by visiting the FCA’s website https://register.fca.org.uk/ or by contacting the FCA on 0800 111 6768. The FCA is the independent watchdog that regulates financial services.
Our service to you. Highworth is an insurance intermediary. We will advise and make a recommendation for you after we have assessed your needs. We act on your behalf when we select, arrange and administer your policy and we act on behalf of the insurer when we collect your premiums.
How we made our selection. Our search for a product to meet your requirements has involved a fair analysis of the market through a range of insurers specialising in your risk. We would be happy to discuss with you the scope and outcome of our search. You can ask us, at any time, for a list of insurers we use.
Disclosure of information. Under English law, if you are a consumer insured (an individual buying insurance wholly or mainly for purposes unrelated to their trade, business or profession) you have a duty to take reasonable care to answer the insurer’s questions fully and accurately and to ensure that any information that you volunteer is not misleading. This duty exists before the cover is placed, when it is renewed and any time that it is varied, and the policy wording may provide that it continues for the duration of the policy. If you do not do this, the insurer may be able to impose different terms on the cover, may charge a higher premium or, in some circumstances, may be able to avoid the policy from inception and any claims under it would not be paid. You are advised to keep copies of documentation sent to or received from us for your own protection. Please do consult us if you are in doubt on any aspect. The disclosure of information not only applies at commencement and renewal of your policy, but also at any time during the period of insurance.
Awareness of policy terms. When a policy is issued, you are strongly advised to read it carefully, as it is that document, the schedule and any certificate of insurance that is the basis of the insurance contract you have purchased. If you are in doubt over any of the policy terms and conditions, please seek our advice promptly.
Cooling off period (consumers). We will give you enough information and help so you can make an informed decision before you make a final commitment to buy your insurance policy. However you will have fourteen (14) days to change your mind and cancel the insurance contract from the date you receive the policy documentation.
Remuneration, Charges and Fees. We reserve the right to make charges, in addition to any insurance premiums, for the arranging, amending, renewing and cancelling of any policy of insurance. Details of charges made will be declared in all correspondence with you prior to policy inception. These charges are in addition to any charges that may be made by the insurer as set out in their documents.
Specifically we will make an administration charge of £50 for any changes you make to your policy mid-term or cancellation of the policy. The insurer pays us a commission which is a percentage of the annual premium.
If you cancel your policy within 14 days of receiving your policy documents and cover has not started then a full refund will be made of premiums paid. If cover has started you will only be charged for the time on cover, unless a claim has been made in which case no refund will be due. Beyond the initial 14 day cooling off period an administration fee of £50 will be applied.
When you take out a policy with us or renew your policy we reserve the right to charge you a fee of £50.
Payment by Annual or Monthly Direct Debit. If you agreed to pay by either annual or monthly Direct Debit then your policy will automatically renew unless you advise us otherwise. This will ensure your insurance cover remains in place. The renewal documents will advise you of this and the amount of money to be debited.
You can opt out of automatic renewal at any time by contacting us by phone on 01202 937 430, e-mail customerservices@highworthinsurance.co.uk or post to the trading office address shown at the bottom of this document.
Payment By Instalments. If you pay a premium by instalments through Premium Credit and an instalment is not paid on time we may cancel your insurance. We will try to contact you by telephone or e-mail before this action is taken. There may well be outstanding monies owed to Highworth Insurance which we will seek to recover from you. Highworth Insurance will receive a commission which is part of your monthly payments.
Commission Disclosure – Commercial customers only You are entitled at any time to request information regarding any commission earnt from insurance products or as part of your monthly payments, which we may have received as a result of placing your insurance business.
Client money – general. The FCA rules are designed to protect you in the event that an insurance intermediary fails or is unable to transfer:
- any premium money it has received from you to the insurer; or
- any claims or return premium monies that it has received from the insurer to you.
We are governed by strict rules pertaining to client money, set down by the FCA. Where we hold monies in a client bank account we may earn interest on monies held, which will be retained by us.
We act as agents for the insurer for the collection of premiums and refunds of premiums. This means that premiums are treated as being received by the insurer when received in our bank account and that any premium refund is treated as received by you when it is actually paid over to you. There are occasions where such transactions are restricted (for example, to receiving premiums only) and we will tell you if this is the case.
Customer protection information. It is our intention to provide you with a high level of customer service at all times. If there are occasions when we do not meet your standards, please contact Mr Toby Green either in writing at Highworth Insurance Ltd, Suite 2, Branksome Park House, Bourne Valley Rd, Poole BH12 1ED or by phone on 01202 052130, who will take details of your concerns. Highworth Insurance’s complaints procedure is available upon request.
We will acknowledge in writing, advising you of who is dealing with your concerns and attempt to address your concerns within three working days. If our investigations take longer, we will keep you informed of progress and issue a full final response within eight weeks. If we cannot satisfy your complaint you may be entitled to refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service. Their website with further details is www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk
If your complaint falls under the jurisdiction of a different dispute resolution scheme we will advise you when acknowledging your complaint.
Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). We are covered by the FSCS. You may be entitled to compensation from the scheme if we cannot meet our obligations. This depends on the type of business and the circumstances of the claim. Insurance advising and arranging is covered for 90% of the claim, without any upper limit.
Renewals. Highworth Insurance as your advisory insurance broker have the right to decline to act as your intermediary. The insurer reserves the right to decline your insurance renewal.
Privacy Notice
Data Controller: Highworth Insurance
Contact for queries: customerservices@highworthinsurance.co.uk or 01202 937 430
How we will use the data you give us. We will use your data because it is necessary to administer your insurance contract or help you make a claim. Where we need to pass data to other firms, it will only be for that purpose. These firms will be Insurers, other insurance brokers, customer feedback sites and firms handling claims. It includes finance providers and firms that process or administer our records. When we contact you, it will either be for the above reason, or because we have a legitimate interest in marketing related products. For any other marketing it will only be with your consent and you will be able to withdraw your consent or unsubscribe at any time.
If we must transfer data to a third party outside the EU, we will only do so if a similar level of protection applies. If we need to obtain data which is by nature sensitive, we will only do so on the basis that it is in the public interest – for example to fight crime, prevent fraud or to make sure insurance is available.
What type of personal data do we need? We may need personal details which might include details of members of your family, lifestyle, finances, business or education. We will collect only what is necessary and will keep it only for as long as necessary in line with our data retention policy. You can ask us for a copy.
What other types of data do we need? We may need to obtain data about Race or Origin, Gender, Religion, Health, Politics, Genetics, Trade Union Membership, Sex or Sexual Orientation. We might need details of criminal convictions. We will collect only what is necessary and protect it with appropriate security measures.
You can find our full privacy policy on our website https://www.highworthinsurance.co.uk/privacy-policy/. Alternatively you can ask us for a copy of our privacy policy at any time.
How do we obtain your data? We may gather it from data you submit to a website, by telephone, face to face or by email. We may receive it from insurers, other insurance brokers, price comparison sites and firms handling claims. It includes finance providers and firms that process or store our records.
What are my legal rights?
– Your right to access – the right to request copies of the personal information we hold on you along with meaningful information on how it is used and who we share it with.
– Your right to rectification – to have your data corrected if it is inaccurate or incomplete.
– Your right to erasure (‘the right to be forgotten’) – to request that your personal data is erased. If we are unable to delete Your data, we will let you know why and also inform you how long we will hold it for.
– Your right to restrict processing – you can ask us to restrict the use of your information. If we are unable to restrict it we will inform you why.
– Your right to object to direct marketing – if you do so we will ensure that you do not receive such material going forward.
– Your right to object to automated decision making – you can object to decisions made about you using the information and undertaken by purely automated means.
– Your right to object to processing – you may object to our processing your personal data;
– Your right to object to use of your information for statistical purposes.
– Your right to challenge our legitimate interests – you can challenge the use of your personal data where we use legitimate business interest as a lawful purpose.
– Your right to data portability – you can request that your personal information be compiled into a common machine readable format and either be provided directly to you or sent by us to a third party you nominate.
– You have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner at www.ico.org.uk, Tel 0303 123 1113.